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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at its Minds
+ Machines conference, GE (NYSE:GE) unveiled new research
highlighting an emerging gap between executive outlook for digital
transformation and initiatives companies have put in place. The survey
of Information Technology (IT) and Operations decision makers found that
while companies see the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) as
presenting significant opportunities for future growth and
competitiveness, the vast majority are not taking the actions required
to benefit from those opportunities.

“The Industrial Internet is already having a profound impact on
industrial companies of all sizes. We know this because we are seeing
real benefits with our customers and across GE,” said Bill Ruh, CEO, GE
Digital. “At the same time, a gap is emerging between outlook for the
IIoT and actions. We are working to close that gap by partnering with
customers to accelerate change and guide companies of all sizes along
their digital journeys.”

According to the study, optimism among industry executives for the
potential of the Industrial Internet is striking. Eighty percent
believe the IIoT will or could be transformational to their
companies and industries. Even more consider digital industrial
transformation to be important to their competitiveness. At the same
time, only 8 percent of those executives say digital
transformation is ingrained in their businesses, and 10 percent
do not have a digital transformation plan in place.

GE Digital Industrial Evolution Index

Based on the research study, GE created the GE
Digital Industrial Evolution Index to track the real progress of
digital transformation – from outlook on the IIoT to readiness to
transform. The inaugural Index reflects atotal score of 63 on
a scale of 100 and indicates that while outlook for the Industrial
Internet is very strong, scoring 78.3 (out of 100), company readiness
significantly lags, scoring 55.2 (out of 100). This disconnect – between
outlook and company readiness – presents both a challenge and
opportunity for companies seeking to benefit from the IIoT. Additional
survey findings included:

Digital Transformation Critical to Growth and Competitiveness: 86%
believe digital industrial transformation is important to the
competitiveness of their companies, with the majority (76%) rating the
ability to provide higher quality services as the foremost outcome of
digital industrial transformation.

Connectivity and Industrial Apps Most Critical for IIoT: IT and
Operations Decision Makers (IT/OTDMs) overwhelmingly cited
connectivity (63%) and industrial applications (58%) as the primary
technologies required for digital transformation.

66% believe data analysts will need to be integrated into all
departments/units

61% believe IT functions will need to become part of the central
operating function of their company

55% believe their companies are responsible for ensuring the
workforce is ready for the IIoT

Advancing Digital Industrial Transformation

GE Digital is working to close the gap between opportunity and reality
by making the Industrial Internet accessible for companies at every
stage of the transformation journey. The company is helping customers
realize real and immediate benefits from the IIoT by providing new
partnerships, industry-leading tools and applications designed to drive
efficiencies and growth. Examples of customers already harnessing the
power of the IIoT include:

Exelon, a Fortune 100 energy company, is working with GE to
develop and deploy Predix-based software solutions across Exelon’s
electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) network of six
utilities. The implementation of machine learning-based analytics will
increase reliability, availability and efficiency of the electrical
grid for more than 10 million customers. Today’s news follows Exelon’s
2016 agreement to deploy GE’s full suite of Predix-based software
across the company’s entire generation fleet.

Qantas, Australia's largest domestic and international airline,
and GE Aviation developed a new flight
data application, FlightPulse, which provides pilots with data to
help them fly more efficiently and help reduce carbon emissions.
FlightPulse is the first fully commercialized product to be developed
with mobile services from GE's Predix platform and uses recorded
aircraft data and smart analytics to enable pilots to securely access
their individual operational efficiency metrics and trends. In its
last financial year, Qantas saved more than 30 million kilograms of
fuel, supported by the work done with GE. In this financial year,
since launching FlightPulse, Qantas is now close to doubling its fuel
savings compared to this time last year.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is applying GE
Transportation's Movement Planner solution as the key technology
enabler for the ARTC Network Control Optimization (ANCO) program.
Movement Planner provides real-time rail traffic planning and
optimization to enable freight to move more efficiently, and will
serve as the foundation for the digital transformation of the train
control function, a key feature of the ANCO project.

Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held renewable
energy company, and GE recently
announced a 2000-megawatt windfarm, called Windcatcher that will
be the largest in the U.S. and second largest in the world once
operational. Invenergy plans to implement GE’s Digital Wind Farm –
including Asset Performance Management (APM) and Operations
Optimization (OO) software as part of the project. The company has
also partnered with GE for cyber
security across the entire fleet.

Rumo, one of the largest rail-based logistics operators in
Latin America, will
deploy GE Transportation’s Trip Optimizer solution to improve
efficiency across more than 2,000 kilometers of rail in Brazil (in
2018). Trip Optimizer, which runs on GE Transportation’s GoLINC
on-board computing platform, is a software-based energy management
system that analyzes data to optimize train fuel efficiency.

KBC, a leading independent Oil and Gas Consulting and Process
Simulation Software company, and Baker Hughes, a GE company, have
entered into a preferred
partnership that will provide a combination of process simulation,
asset performance management and operational software solutions to the
oil and gas industry. Leveraging GE’s Predix, the platform for the
Industrial Internet, to deliver one unified view, this partnership
extends KBC’s Petro-SIM process simulation modeling further into the
fullstream oil and gas value chain, and provides connectivity between
operations, assets, people and business processes for end-to-end
optimization.

JPMorgan Chase is currently in its second phase of an ongoing
collaboration with Current, powered by GE, to install new energy
management and digital technologies that will increase the energy
efficiency of roughly 4,500 Chase branches across the U.S. To date,
approximately 3,000 branches have been retrofitted with LED lighting,
helping cut lighting energy consumption by 50 percent – the equivalent
of taking nearly 27,000 cars off the road.

The industrial world is complex and creates a unique set of technology
challenges. IIoT requires multiple technologies – connectivity, control
systems, cloud computing, data ingestion and management, analytics and
machine learning, security, data governance – across a variety of
different users and scenarios. GE Digital is applying its expertise and
experience to make the IIoT more accessible, actionable and impactful
for companies of all sizes – providing a blueprint they can adapt to get
more out of their industrial assets, measure ROI and improve business
returns.

About GE

GE (NYSE:GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming
industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are
connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global
exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business
shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and
intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application
across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and
scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the
language of industry. www.ge.com.

About the GE Digital Industrial Transformation Index

The research,
commissioned by GE Digital, was conducted between September 20, 2017 and
October 16, 2017 and included a survey of 250 IT and Operations Decision
Makers in the U.S. across five industries (manufacturing, utilities,
power/energy and transportation and aviation/aerospace) as well as
in-depth interviews with C-level executives (CEOs, CIOs, CDOs and COOs)
in each of those five industries.